TV ads will salute the military

Winder shows its appreciation

Posted: Saturday, July 04, 2009

By Brian Creech

When Winder Cultural Affairs Director Don Wildsmith and Robert Siple, the lead technician at WTV 21, were looking for a way to show appreciation for the veterans who live, work and drill in Barrow County, they batted around a few wild ideas before settling on a plan that made the most of both their resources.

They came up with "Winder Salutes," a series of 30-second public service ads that each feature three or four different soldiers and honor them with photos that show both their military and civilian lives. Wildsmith compiles the pictures into slides and Siple prepares them for television.

"When you get two creative people involved, the plans can start to spin out of control," said Wildsmith, who retired from a 32-year career in the Navy.

Wildsmith and Siple hope the first set of ads will be ready to air by late this month, and will continue to run them as long as the community shows interest.

"We hope to keep this an open-ended program," said Wildsmith. "We want to run the ads for as long as people send pictures in."

Because the program depends on information from local residents, Wildsmith assembles each ad as information is sent in. WTV 21, the Winder government access channel, does not have a broadcast schedule for the ads, Wildsmith said.

Wildsmith expects the program to spill into surrounding towns and doesn't want to strictly limit "Winder Salutes" to Barrow County veterans and service members.

"We are proud of what this city does to support the military," he said. "We want people to know there are those standing in harm's way to make life easier for us here."

WTV 21 managers anticipate veterans and their families will flood the station with photos, so they encourage people to send in digital photos or scans of old photos. The station will not be able to return any photos sent via the postal service.

An example public service announcement can be seen on WTV 21's Web site, www.windertv.org.

To nominate a soldier, Marine or other service member, e-mail windersalutes@cityofwinder.com. The message should include the service member's name, rank and branch of service, the dates of his service, current deployment, local hometown, status and at least two photos, one civilian and one military.

If the person was killed in action, include the date and location of the death. The announcement is free, and ads will not include any personal family information.